Teens deny breaking in to school van, but – oops! – police see them with the evidence

Friday

Dec 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMDec 28, 2007 at 7:32 PM

A Framingham teen tried to hide the evidence of breaking in to a van in a school parking lot and vandalizing it, but police said it was too late. The officers had already seen the 16-year-old boy playing with a freshly stolen fire extinguisher, police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said.

Norman Miller

A Framingham teen tried to hide the evidence of breaking in to a van in a school parking lot and vandalizing it, but police said it was too late.

The officers had already seen the 16-year-old boy playing with a freshly stolen fire extinguisher, police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany said.

Officers Jaime Lewis and Paul Patriacca were on routine patrol when they drove through the Juniper Hill School parking lot at 11 p.m. when they saw a car parked with three teens inside it.

Next to the car, they saw a fourth teen holding a fire extinguisher that had been discharged onto the ground.

``The teen turned and saw the officers and jumped into the car and it started to drive away,'' Shastany said.

The officers pulled the car over, and when they got to the car, they saw the teen in the back seat trying to shove the fire extinguisher underneath the seat.

When questioned, the teens in the car said the fourth boy had taken the fire extinguisher from one of the 15 Accept Transportation vans parked in the Jocyln Avenue school parking lot.

``One of the van's interior lights were on, so the officers looked inside of it and it was white,'' said Shastany. ``The suspect had discharged the extinguisher in the van. The whole interior, from front to back, was white. The powder from the extinguisher was fresh and it looked like smoke.”

The boy, whom police did not name due to his age, was charged with breaking and entering into a vehicle, larceny from a vehicle, trespassing and malicious mischief causing more than $250 worth of damage.